Cry to the Fallen
by ShinMasaki
Summary: Instead of going off to America after recovering from his broken leg, Keitaro gets a letter from Seta to explore some ruins at an uncharted island. Unknowingly, the ruins are left behind from the Turtle Civilation left to keep something hidden away forevr


The day was beginning anew, just as always. The darkness slowly giving way to the rising of the sun. As the brightness grew and the darkness crept away, a single figure robed in a black tunic slowly became visible. Atop a large wooden pole, he stood. Surrounding him, the darkness seemed to recede and yet, at the same time, it seemed to coalesce around his figure. The young man smoothly turned in and in a sudden motion, brought the wooden bokuto he was holding in a slashing arc through the air. The leaves rustled in the trees surrounding the young man as the sun illuminated his being. Slowly, methodically, he brought the sword up and began the routine again. Only the rustle of the leaves and the calling wind could be heard beyond that of his steady breathing and the rush of the sword.  
  
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Cry to the Fallen  
  
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Cry to the Fallen is an original work by Jeremy Credo. All characters within this fanfiction are the property of Mr. Ken Akamatsu. All events that take place within this story are the work and creation of myself.  
  
Author's Note: Well, it's been quite a while. I would say about six months or so since I have written anything concerning fanfiction. To all my readers, I apologize for my absence and my lack of updates for my various stories. For the most part, I am an author of fanfictions from the anime Tenchi Muyo! I also have a few Slayers fics and a few crossover fics from a whole collection of anime. However, this is my first attempt at a Love Hina story. I hope you people enjoy this story, it is good to be back.  
  
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Prologue (Part I)  
  
The Discovery is Made  
  
- Never any young adventurer's misfortunes, I believe, began sooner or  
  
continued longer than mine.  
  
Robinson Crusoe, Daniel Defoe  
  
"And a good morning to all you people in the Kanagawa district! It is a beautiful day today with temperatures reaching ---"  
  
Getting up from her futon, Naru turned off her clock alarm. Sleepily she yawned and left the comforter strewn on the floor. Haphazardly, she made way across her room stumbling once. Standing up, she yawned again stretching out her arms. Shaking away her sleepy feeling, she headed towards her window and looked out upon the city. It indeed was a beautiful day. The sky was bright blue and streaked with orange from the freshly risen sun. Not a cloud could be seen in the sky as a bird flew above towards the ocean in the distance. It was a peaceful day, not a sound could be heard above the blowing wind and the soft crashing of the waves from the ocean in the distance.  
  
Shaking her head again to bring her back to reality, Naru set to work putting away her futon and comforter. Throwing the two into the closet, she pulled out her usual yellow shirt and pink skirt. Disrobing from her sleepwear, Naru looked into the mirror and smiled admiring herself for a moment. A thought crossed her mind that Keitaro could, at any moment, poke his head up through the hole in the floor and she quickly donned her clothes.  
  
Her pink skirt fluttered slightly from the breeze coming in through the window. Moving back to the window, she looked out once more and pulled out her hair from her shirt. Tossing her hair back behind her, she turned towards the door and promptly exited the room.  
  
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"...good morning to all you people in the Kanagawa district! It is a..."  
  
Keitaro awoke along with Naru's clock as always. Rolling over in sleep, he kicked the comforter aside as he threw his pillow over his head to drown out the radio's broadcaster. He lay there silently for a few minutes before actually getting up. With a yawn, Keitaro scratched his head, his hair flying wildly around. Reaching over to a cabinet, he pulled out his glasses and sleepily shuffled towards the window to open the curtains. After opening the window, he instantly wished he didn't; bright sunlight flooded into the room burning his groggy eyes. Squinting through the light, Keitaro could see the ocean in the distance glimmering with pinpoints that shone like stars.  
  
It was too good a day to sleep in, but tired as he was, Keitaro forced himself to get up and get ready. Removing his night-clothes, Keitaro rummaged through his closet until selecting a pair of khakis and a black T- shirt. Putting on his clothes half-asleep, he almost didn't catch the shirt being put on backwards. Lazily, he corrected his error and stretched, blinking away his fatigue. His muscles not quite up to par with him, Keitaro struggled to put away his futon and comforter around the stacks of books in his closet.  
  
Where he got all the books from he didn't know, all he knew was that he had them and he needed to use them. Kicking aside a General Statistics book, he grabbed a pair of socks and slipped them on. Rubbing his head once more, Keitaro yawned and walked out his door.  
  
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"And a good morning you, Sempai" Shinobu called to Keitaro.  
  
"Huh? Oh yeah, right, right... Mornin', Shinobu" he replied around his toothbrush. In his right hand he held a comb with which he was going through his hair. He kept switching it out with a small cup for his toothbrush.  
  
"Hey, you really need to wake up, Keitaro. Class isn't going to wait up for you, ya' know" Naru said worriedly beside him. She was looking at a mirror brushing her hair again. Every now and then, she would stop and loosen a knot or tangle in her hair and continue brushing. In the sunlight, her hair seemed to shine with an almost over-worldly radiance. Satisfied with how her hair looked, she stood up and shook her hair out once more. In fact, her entire figure seemed to shine with radiance in the morning light.  
  
Not one to miss detail, Keitaro caught this and, in his absent-mindedness, he stared at Naru blushing slightly.  
  
"Hey! Just what are you staring at, buddy?" Naru asked angrily at Keitaro catching his gaze.  
  
Her sudden outburst brought Keitaro back to his senses and he turned back to the mirror before him as he looked away and blushed silently.  
  
"S-sempai?" Shinobu called nervously.  
  
Turning, Keitaro removed the toothbrush and smiled at Shinobu. "It was nothing, don't worry about it Shinobu, okay?"  
  
"Er...uh-huh." Shinobu said blushing inwardly. She still couldn't shake this feeling she had towards Keitaro. How long was it she had felt like this? For quite a while was all she could come up with. After all, it had been just about two and a half years ago since Shinobu joined everybody at Hinata Sou. It wasn't too soon after that that Shinobu began to generate feelings towards Keitaro.  
  
"Well, anyways...I think I'll...umm...go get breakfast started" Shinobu cried and scurried away before Keitaro could catch the redness that was slowly taking over her face.  
  
"Be down in a minute, Shinobu" Naru called after her. Turning towards Keitaro, Naru's face assumed a stern look. "Look, Keitaro. I know you are trying your best at being landlord of this place and also at your studies, but staying up all night will get you nowhere, especially your classes. We're all glad you got into Tokyo University after all these years, but if you aren't able to get up early enough to get to class, it's not going to do you any good.  
  
"We have just over a month before we restart classes. Somehow, you still manage to cause so much trouble. I have no idea how you are going to manage your classes. That and you just got over your broken leg too. You need to be a lot more responsible for yourself, you hear?"  
  
"She has a point you know."  
  
Looking behind him, Keitaro could see his aunt Haruka climbing the steps towards them.  
  
"Oh, good morning, Haruka!" Naru called.  
  
"Mornin'" Keitaro chimed.  
  
"Yeah, yeah. Anyway, what are you planning to do? You missed the first semester completely and now with the break almost over, you are in real need of a boost plans. You are doing a real good job at being landlord and all, but at what cost? All this stuff should come second to your classes. Think about it, Keitaro. Anyway, you received a letter yesterday, Keitaro. It's from Seta. Here," she tossed Keitaro a letter.  
  
"Uh, thanks Haruka" he said. "I know what you are both saying to me, it's just that I don't know if I'm at all cut out for this stuff."  
  
"Are you kidding?! After all those years of trying - and failing - you finally got into Tokyo U and now you are chickening out?! What's wrong with the picture here?" Naru exclaimed.  
  
"At any rate, I'm going down for some breakfast before I go back to the shop" Haruka said.  
  
She took the cigarette butt out of her mouth and pulled out a personal ashtray. Depositing the burnt cigarette, she reached into her shop apron and pulled out a box of cigarettes and, lighting another, turned and went back down the stairs.  
  
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Monday, May xx, 199x  
  
Hey Keitaro,  
  
It's me, Seta. I'm out here on an island in the middle of the Pacific. I have no idea where I am exactly, due to a rather embarrassing turn of events, I had to land my plane out here. Well, to tell the truth, I forgot to refuel the plane the last time I was at a port and had to land to refill with my reserve tanks.  
  
Well, enough about that, anyway, I marked my location on a map according to GPS navigation. Turns out, this is an uncharted island that seems to fall within the area of the Turtle Civilization I told you about on Pararakelse Island. In fact, this island seems to be on the absolute apex of the civilizations' reach and there's a rather interesting temple here. I am not too sure, but there is writing on the walls everywhere here. It seems this place was of something of great importance.  
  
Right now, I'm standing on a dais in the center of the temple. It is interesting; light is streaming in through all the openings in the roof at once as if the sun were sitting on top of me. It is quite amazing. Anyway, by the time you receive this letter, I am probably already back in Japan.  
  
My question for you is, since you have missed much of your school so far, and you are recovered from your broken leg, do you want to take some time away from everybody and investigate this ruin with me? I won't be leaving until the end of the month, which should give me plenty of time to restock on supplies that we may need. By the way, this excavation will be just us, I don't really feel like letting word of this get out to the Tokyo U Excavation and Discovery branch just yet.  
  
So then, I will await your answer. I will be over soon so you can let me know of your decision. Until then, keep everything going smoothly for me, 'kay?  
  
Sincerely,  
  
Seta  
  
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"Hey, Shinobu. This is great, as always!" Keitaro chimed.  
  
"Yeah, I agree. Who knows where we would be without such a great cook like you, Shinobu" Kitsune said.  
  
"Probably getting fat with snacks and sake, like you have throughout your room" Naru joked.  
  
"Hey now, let's not get personal here" Kitsune said crossly.  
  
"Urashima, just to let you know, I am going to be gone for the next few days." Motoko called looking up from he bowl of miso.  
  
"Oh, why's that, Motoko?"  
  
"I have to go back home to my dojo in order to get some things straightened out with my family. I'll be leaving shortly after breakfast. And thank you for breakfast, Shinobu. It's good, as always."  
  
"I bet she's just scared her sister might show up again outta nowhere!" Su called jumping into her chair next to Motoko.  
  
"Uwaa~~ I ... That's not the reason!!"  
  
"Oh yeah, that's right. Motoko's scared of her sister." Sarah said popping her head out of a passage in the wall.  
  
With curious reflexes and speed for a child of her age, Sarah flipped herself out of the hole behind the painting and landed on the floor in perfect defensive stance. Without warning, she flung herself at Keitaro's head, leg outstretched in a flying sidekick. Unexpecting as always, Keitaro was thrown across the room and into Naru as she was walking into the room.  
  
"Kyaaaa!!!!" She cried as Keitaro flew into her. The two landed in a horrible mess of breakfast rice and miso that Naru was carrying. Not only was her attire ruined, but Keitaro, knocked out, of course, was draped across her in a most "unbecoming" manner.  
  
"Ugh...not again." she groaned. Standing up, she picked up the manager and flung him out the window in the room. "Now I have to go change..." she said upsettedly. A letter fell out of his pocket as he flew out the window. Naru knelt down and snatched the paper up before anybody else noticed it. In the process, she picked up the rice and miso bowl that fell to the ground as if that were the reason she was kneeling.  
  
"Wow, what's this? No Naru-punch to start the day off?" Kitsune called feigning shock.  
  
"It's too early for that, besides...everybody's eating right now. Now, if you'll excuse me" Naru stormed into the kitchen and dumped off the dishes before retreating to her room.  
  
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"What is it with that loser." Naru said to herself as she pulled her shirt off. Searching her dresser for another shirt like the one she just previously had on, she remembered the letter. Pulling it out from her sleeve where she hid it, she placed the letter on her desk. Finding a similar shirt to the one before, she slipped it on and flipped her hair out. Looking in the mirror, she fixed her hair so it looked like it always did. Nothing like originality to go on with the day.  
  
Grabbing the letter, Naru lay down on the floor and opened the letter. Scanning the letter, she suddenly felt a sense of dread.  
  
"Oh my god...he's not actually going to go with Seta to this place...is he?"  
  
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Rubbing his head, Keitaro walked back to his room groaning.  
  
"It wasn't my fault that I got kicked again, was it? Nope. So as far as I can see it, there was no reason for Naru to attack. Well, come to think of it, usually there is no reason. At least I didn't get the Naru-punch though."  
  
Still talking to himself, Keitaro slid open his door and walked in. He noticed a paper on the kotatsu in the middle of the room.  
  
"Oh, did I drop this earlier?" He asked out loud.  
  
"Yes, you did..." a voice called from above him.  
  
Looking up, he saw Naru's head looking down through the hole in the ceiling. Naru jumped down through the hole and stood in front of Keitaro, she wore a serious expression, but one that was more full of regret then anything.  
  
"You-You're not actually thinking about going out there with Seta now...are you?"  
  
"I'm not too sure, I mean, it would be great, but I don't know if I should after running off to Pararakelse like that before. Seta didn't even mention exactly where it is this place is. Well, if I do decide to go, I'll let you all know immediately. I still have a week before I have to let him know.  
  
"However, I think I will accept his offer. I mean, it's just some set of ruins out in the middle of nowhere. I promise I won't be gone for more than a month at the most. Even if it takes longer, time, by then we should have made enough progress that we can claim it as our own discovery."  
  
"Well, whatever you choose, Keitaro." Naru sighed. "Please remember about all of us here and that you are still the Hinata's manager. Just come back to all of us." '...to me...'  
  
"Sure thing, Naru. Don't worry, there shouldn't be anything that Seta can't handle out there."  
  
"Yeah...yeah...I don't know what I'm making such a fuss over. Now get out there and let everybody know about your decision before they want to kill you again." She said pushing him out the door.  
  
"Eh-heh...sure thing. I've still got a week though, I won't leave before I have to.  
  
"Don't worry, everything is going to be okay." Keitaro smiled. 


End file.
